Pro-Jeb Bush super PAC drops $6 million on Fox News ads

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Jeb Bush speaking to a crowd with his hands up.
(Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

After struggling to gain traction in the 2016 race, Jeb Bush’s campaign announced last week it is relaunching the campaign. It appears his super PAC is doling out some significant cash to encourage the campaign to lift-off.

According to independent expenditure disclosures that we spotting on Sunlight’s Real-Time Federal Campaign Finance tracker, it appears Right To Rise USA is doubling down and going after the Republican base by placing more than $6.6 million dollars in ads exclusively on the Fox News Channel. The super PAC spent $18,932 producing those commercials, which were placed by a Virginia-based firm known as Oath Strategies, LLC.

We don’t know exactly which commercials that expense purchased, but just last week Right to Rise USA posted this 15-second spot on YouTube promoting Jeb Bush’s nickname of “Veto Corleone,” a play on the name “Vito Corleone” from the movie “The Godfather.”

It’s unclear during which shows those ads will run, for how long the ads will run — and whether Right to Rise USA knows that Vito dies in the first movie of the trilogy. (Also, good luck reading that microscopic disclaimer.)

Still, the massive ad buy follows another $7.6 million in 30-second ads the super PAC placed at the end of October with local television outlets.

So far, Right to Rise USA has spent $31 million dollars supporting Jeb Bush’s candidacy. It reported having $97 million on hand in its June 2015 filings.

Bush is currently polling behind Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio in the Republican presidential primary. Whether this massive onslaught of ads will improve that remains to be seen.